THE message is easy to understand in any language.

Ofsted has praised the “rapidly improving rates of progress” at Southampton’s Cantell Maths and Computing College after its latest inspection.

The Violet Road school, which has a proportion of students who speak English as an additional language that is three times the national average, has been graded as “satisfactory”.

Inspectors said they were impressed by the improvements at Cantell, which are recognised by pupils, staff and parents and carers.

Lead inspector Christine Raeside said in her report: “In 2011 it achieved its highest ever GCSE results, with 52 per cent of students attaining five or more passes at grade C or better, including English and mathematics.

“Given their much lower-than-average starting points, this just below average attainment is indicative of rapidly improving rates of progress.

“The head teacher has established a culture which is now aspirational and ambitious for every individual.

“An unrelenting focus on achievement has accelerated rates of progress such that attainment has risen from a previously low base and the gap with national standards is rapidly closing.

“The overwhelming majority of parents and carers feel that their child is making good progress.

“A past legacy of low attainment is reversing because good leadership has established higher expectations of learning and progress for all.”

Cantell’s head teacher Ruth Evans said she was delighted with many of the report’s findings, which she believes confirm the school’s hard work to bring improvement is bringing results.

She said: “What we want is for every child in this school to succeed and fulfil their potential.

“It’s very much that ethos of preparing youngsters for the rest of their lives, preparing them well for what’s increasingly a tough world.

“Literacy has been one of our key barriers. When you consider how many youngsters we have from all over the world, they can often pick up speaking and listening, but it’s often in writing that they find things tougher.

“We don’t see that as a bad thing. The school is very cohesive – it’s a real mix.”